One idea I would add to Michael's post, with which I fully agree, by the way,
is that, to keep things feeling fair for the soon-to-be-unrepresented party,you
might suggest that most of the heavy lifting be done by the parties with their
coach(es), where the asymmetry of only 1 having an attorney at present would
not be so glaring, rather than via the 1 remaining attorney and the "opposing"
client. An additional benefit to this might be the wife discovering that she
really should get replacement collaborative counsel....
----
Douglas J. Sanderson, Esquire
McCandlish & Lillard, P.C.
11350 Random Hills Road, Suite 500
Fairfax, Virginia 22030
Voice: (703) 934-1122
Fax: (703) 352-4300
www.mccandlaw.com
________________________________
From: CollabLaw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx on behalf of mchughpc@xxxxxxx
Sent: Sat 5/2/2009 7:44 AM
To: CollabLaw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [CollabLaw] Re:Continuing representation
John:
Great question; it is such a gray area, and one we are all trying to
address in our individual practices. For purposes of this reply, I will make
two assumptions: first, that your commitment agreement only contains the usual
prohibition against future litigation; and, second, that the falling out
between your colleague and his client is not the result of a failure to
disclose material matters, but, instead, relates more to unsatisfactory
personal interactions. Under these facts, there is no doubt that you could
continue working on the matter if the wife retained new collaborative counsel,
and it would still be a collaborative case, so the only real question is
whether you have an obligation to withdraw if the other spouse is
unrepresented.
In responding, I use as a frame of reference the overall notion that
the goal of the collaborative process is to allow the clients to resolve their
differences respectfully and without litigation. I also note that your client
has invested reasonably large sums of money in educating you about the
specifics of their case; your withdrawing at this point would result in his
having to pay another attorney to come up to speed. While, undoubtedly, there
will be some who believe you must withdraw, having looked at a similar
situation recently, I believe there is no prohibition on your continuing to
represent your client, however, you need to clarify how you are proceeding. I
would suggest that you have moved from a collaborative case to cooperative
negotiation. In other words, you may have lost the collaborative envelope, but
you still do not have a litigation case, and you are permitted to continue to
represent your client.
Michael McHugh
________________________________
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